Automatic lighter construction for gas ranges



May 25, 1937.

' s. KAUFFM'AN AUTOMATICYLIGHTER CONSTRUCTION FpR GASRANGES Filedv April20, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 25, 1937.

L. S. KAUFFMAN AUTOMATIC LIGHTER CONSTRUCTION FOR GAS RANGES Filed April20, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 25, 1937. Q5; KAUFFMAN 1 238L819 AUTOMATICLIGHTER CONSTRUCTION FOR GAS RANGES Filed April 20, 1934 s Sh eets-Sheet s Patented May 25, 1937 UNITED I STATES AUTOMATIC LIGHTERCONSTRUCTION FOR GAS RANGES Lester S. Kauflmam St. Louis, Mo., assignorto American Stove Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of New JerseyApplication April '20, 19:4, set-mm. 121,600

This invention relates to certain improvements in automatic lighterconstruction for gas ranges and it pertains in part to a constructionshown in a concurrent joint application Serial No. 526,538

of Isaac V. Brumbaugh,- Douglas D. Burnside and Lester S. Kaufiman,filed March 30, 1931, which has resulted in Patent No. 1,957,442 issuedMa 8, 1934, for improvements in Flash lighter construction for gasranges.

. One object of the present improvement is to provide an open top gasrange with a plurality of burners located wholly in a horizontal planebelow the open top of the range combined with a tray having itsintermediate or central portion depressed below the upper ends of theburners, the,

tray having openings through which the burners extend, combined with afiash light construction composed of tubes located .below the said trayand concealed by the tray having their outer open ends located adjacentthe outer wall or walls of the burners and communicating with anopeningor openings in their walls and a pilot light located below the saidflash light tubes and supporting the said tubes.

A further object of the invention is toproduce a flash lightconstruction involving what is set forth in the above object and inwhich construction the pilot light is supported and in turn sup- .portsthe flash light tubes and in which con- 0 struction a pilot burner capis supported by the tray independently of the flash tubes whereby thesaid burner tray is detachable independently of the flash light tubesand the said burners and leaving the said flash light tubes in theirsecured 35 positions. 1

Further specific objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription of the parts defined in the foregoing objects.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a flash lightconstruction and its cooperating parts, part of the tray element beingremoved to fully disclose some of the elements beneath it. I 45 Fig. 2is a central transverse vertical section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1looking in the direction indicated by arrow.

Fig. 3 is an enlargedvertlcal transverse section through the inner endsof the flash light 50 tubes and adjacent parts of the said tray andshowing the particular construction of said parts more clearly.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of.

Figure 1 showing the position of the flash light 5 tubes and also apreferred construction of aposiupon it to be acted upon by the flamesfrom tioning device carriedby the under side of the tray.

tion in part of the present invention. 7

Referring now to the accompanying drawings itwill be observed that thetop a of the stove is in the form of a'horizontal portion somewhat ringshape in plan view having its outer periph- I ery b extending downwardand'located at its inner periphery with a suitablenu'mber of inwardlyprojecting lips o. What I term as a tray B has its upper and outerperiphery d-extending outward around its edge and adapted to rest on theplurality of said lips or projections c, the outwardly extending portiond fitting in the inner edge of the ring portion a.-. As to this trayportion B particular attention is directed to the fact that it isdepressed as shown at e. Said depressed portion e extends substantiallyfrom its outer edge as shown and it extends all around the said tray. Inaddition this tray portionhas a plurality of openings I through whichopenings the burners C extend as shown. It will be seen alsoparticularly from Figure 2 that the upper ends of the burners C arelocated some considerable distance below the upper and outer edge of thetray. This arrangement is for a specific purpose combined with the flashlight tubes that will be pointedv out presently. Fitting also in the rimportion a is a grate or grill portion 9' and this grill portion islikewise located a substantial distance above. the tops of the burnersC. The purpose of this grill 9 is to act as a support for the utensilsplaggd e burners C. The flash light tubes h are located beneath the trayB for a purpose that will be presently explained. It will be noted alsothat the peripheries of the openings I through which the burners extendare located below the gas or burners openings i of the burners so thatthe operation of the burners is not interfered with by the peripheries fof the walls of the openings which surround the projecting portions ofthe burners. The open outer ends is of the tubes h are located in linewith auxiliary openings or nipples l which pass through the outer wallsm of the burners while the inner ends of these tubes h are connected andsupported independently of the said tray. The inner open ends n of theflash light tubes h are permanently'connected toand supported by adownwardly extending member 0 which has its inner periphery psurrounding and supported by the upper portion of the pilot light q.This member o is clamped by a nut r which surrounds a Fig. 5 is avertical .section showing a modiflca-' screw threaded portion 'of thesaid pilot and engages the inwardly extending portion 12 and clamps itbetween the said nut r and the under side of the pilot light proper. Theobject of this-is to have these flash light tubes supported by the pilotlight which is connected by means of a suitable tube t that has itsouter end connected with a gas manifold or conveying member 5.

These burners C are provided with extending gas and air mixing portions12 with which a suitable nipple w'communicates, the opposite ends of thenipples communicating with the gas con veying member 12. Air is admittedto the mixing tube and is controlled by the ordinary form of shutter a.From the above construction as shown in the drawings it will beunderstood that the burners C are annular in form and that secondary airpasses through the central portion in the ordinary manner for supportingcombustion of the gas issuing from their upper ends.

in this construction it is pointed out that the member 0 forms the lowerportion of a housing for the pilot light :1, the vertical walls of thismember having air passages 11 for supporting combustion within thishousing. Particular attention is directed to the fact that the upperportion of the pilot housing 2' which is of inverted cup shape, iscarried by the tray B and the vertical wall of this housing a isprovided with a plurality of passageways l for the products ofcombustion from the pilot light q.

The said burners C are provided with projecting supporting members 2that rest on members 3 and interlock with said members 3 by means of asuitable projection 5.

Suitable members n'connect the gas manifold 5 with the mixing tubes 6that extend from the said manifold to the burners C located at theopposite side of the top a, while 0 are the mixing tubes that extendfrom said gas manifold 'to the burners C at that side adjacent themanifold 5. Suitable handles 1 for controlling the flow of gas to therespective burners are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Preferably a valve 8 isprovided to regulate the amount of gas flowing to the said pilot lightfrom the tube t.

Attention is also called to the functions of inverted U-shaped membersIn carried by the tray B. These U-shaped members detachably position anddetachably hold the flash light tubes h in respect to the other parts ofthe construction 'and therefore provide the proper operation of theparts.

In Figure 5 I show a modification in part of the invention describedherein. The parts modified relate tothe tray and the burner. Thismodification relates to making the said tray B into two parts H and I2instead of one part as shown in Figure 2. It will be understood ofcourse that this construction in efiect depresses the said tray B asubstantial distance below the grate 9. As here shown when making thetray in the two parts the part I2 has its lower edge l3 formed into aninwardly extending flange and preferably, though not necessarily, theedge of the part I l is bent as shown at M. This construction howevermay be modified or changed so long as the tray is in a plane below thesaid grate. It will be observed that the tray B as constructed in Figure5 has the burner opening l5 constructed substantially as it is inFigures 1 and 2. The burner C inthis modified form will be provided withthe lugs 9 of Figure 1, though they are not shown in Figure 5. Theburner C is also slightly different from that shown in Figures 1 and2.

This diflerence consists in making the burner a somewhat diflerent shapein cross section as shown in Figure 5, and in having its burner openings2" located as shown in said Figure 5 instead of as shown in Figure 2.The margin of the opening l 5 in the tray has a surrounding dependingflange l6 substantially as in Figure 2. Also in this modified form thetop of the burner does not protrude through the opening I5 as shown inFigure 2.

From the foregoing construction it will be observed that the severalparts described are ar-' .ranged in their particular positions toproduce a 'tion of the several elements is such asto permit the removalof thetray B for any purpose whatever without interfering with thenecessary positions of the flash light tubes in respect to the openingsfrom the burner housings; that the upper part of the pilot burnerhousing is supported by the said tray'whereby it is removable with thesaid tray without interfering in any manner with the relative positionsof the pilot light and the inner ends of the flash tubes and withoutinterfering in any manner with the relative positions of the outer endsof the flash light tubes in respect to the gas nipple or opening in thewall of the burners. .All of these arrangements are found to be ofextreme utility in the combination of a tray and the flash light tubesbeneath it; that the spacers 9 carried by the burners C properlyposition the burners-in the openings ,2. to provide for the properfeeding of secondary air which surrounds the flames from the saidburners and that the flash light tubes are prevented from being in aposition which would prevent the gas mixture issuing from the ports iinto the respective flash light tubes.

While I have shown and described the preferred form for carrying out thepresent improvement I desire it to be understood that variations may bemade in the construction without departing from the spirit of theinvention as defined in the attached claim. Certain variations may bemade in the form and the manner of supporting the tray portion so longas the spirit of the invention is not departed from.

I am aware that various constructions of flash light devices have beenmade and have been patented, some of them working on the principle thatgas from a burner travels laterally to a pilot light where it is lightedand flashes back to the burner to be lighted, and others of them areconstructed so that'on pushing a valve a flame or flames flash from thispilot light burner to the other burners from which gas is flowing andthe gas is lighted by these flashes of flame. So far as I am awarehowever in none of these devices is there a construction whichcorresponds with that disclosed in this application, viz. the use of atray made of a dimension that will flll in an annular horizontal upperportion and having a .depressed portion provided with openings throughwhich a burner housing projects and provided with openings located abovethe depressed tray and a flash tube or tubes located below this traywith all of the advantages which have been enumerated herein.

I claim:

In a gas stove the combination of an open top portion, a burner housingsurrounded by said top portion, said burner housing located in ahorizontal plane below the said top portion, the upper prisingco-operating upper and lower parts communicating with the other open endof said tube, a tray portion depressed below the first said gas passagesbut abqve 'said second mentioned gas passage, said depressed portionprovided with an opening through which said burner housing projects,said tray portion supported independently of and removable independentlyof the lower part I of the pilot light housing and said flash lighttubes, said tray portion carrying the upper part of the pilot housing,whereby the parts operate as described.

.. LESTER S. KAUEFMAN.

